Category: DailyShorts

You are probably familiar with the four basic types of musical instruments: strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion. However, is it possible to have an instrument that doesn’t fit into one of these families? In the early 20th century, Russian inventor Leon Theremin came up with an instrument that doesn’t fit into any family and doesn’t sound or play like any other. Learn more about the theremin, the world’s first electronic instrument, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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Every February 14, people around the world celebrate Valentine’s Day. It is a day for everything heart-shaped, flowers, flowers, candy, and romance. Why is this day the day dedicated to romance? What’s with the hearts? And who or what is a valentine? Is this all a giant conspiracy of greeting card manufacturers? Learn more about Saint Valentine’s Day on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, known to history as just Nero, was not the best of Roman Emperors. In fact, on most lists of Roman Emperors, he would rank somewhere near the bottom. In no small part, this is due to how he reacted after the greatest fire ever to engulf Rome and what he built in its aftermath. Learn more about the Domus Aurea, or Nero’s Golden House, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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In the middle of World War II, a small island in Scotland’s Hebrides Islands was suffering through war shortages like most of the country. However, on February 5, 1941, a very fortunate disaster struck the island, and the island’s residents couldn’t have been happier. The reverberations from this lucky calamity are still being felt today. Learn more about the wreck of the SS Politician and its incredible cargo on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.

A note on notes: We’d much rather you just went into each episode of The Memory Palace cold. And just let the story take you where it well. So, we don’t suggest looking into the show notes first.

Music

• Metaphysical Waltz by Shirley Meyer Blankenship

• ...morphs into Jock O'Hazeldean by Cynthia Boener

• There's Dominique Dumont's La bataille de neige

• The Squimp from the Chico Hamilton Quintet

• Fruit of Dreams by Les Baxter

• Rags to Riches by Tony Bennett

Notes

• Best place to go if you want to learn a lot about Todd Storz is The Birth of Top 40 Radio: The Storz' Stations Revolution of the 1950s and 1960s by Richard Fatherly and David MacFarland.

• For a loving history of the whole era, you'd probably enjoy Ben Fong Torres' The Hits Just Keep on Coming: The History of Top 40 Radio

In 1901, Swiss archeologists Gustave Jequier discovered a large stone stele in what is today western Iran. That large stone was 2.25m or 7.5 feet tall and was covered with cuneiform writing. After it was translated, it was found to have been a list of 282 laws written down by the Babylonian King Hammurabi. The laws covered many of the same issues that people deal with in the modern world.

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For over 30 years, Monty Hall was the host of the game show Let’s Make A Deal. In the show, they played a very simple game where you would choose one of three doors. This simple game has led to one of the most controversial and public kerfuffles amongst mathematicians, which caused many distinguished mathematicians to have egg on their face. Learn more about the Monty Hall Problem on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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On May 19, 1946, André René Roussimoff was born into the world in Coulommiers, France. At birth, he weighed 13 pounds or 6 kilograms...and from there, he only got bigger. He eventually topped out at 7 feet, four inches tall, weighed 520 pounds, and became a worldwide phenomenon as a professional wrestler and actor. He is one of the few humans to whom the adjective “legendary” can truly be ascribed. Today people still speak of his incredible feats in awe.

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